Preparing dried cheese

ABSTRACT

EXTRUDER, INTO ELONGATED NOODLE FORM HAVING A DIAMETER OF UP TO 3/32 INCH, DRYING THE EXTRUDED NOODLE AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES OF UP TO ABOUT 115*F. TO A MOISTURE CONTENT UP TO ABOUT 17%. CHEESES WHICH CONTAIN UP TO ABOUT 53% FAT ARE ADAPTED FOR PROCESSING BY THE METHOD OF THIS INVENTION TO PRODUCE A STORAGE STABLE PRODUCT WHICH DOES NOT REQUIRE REFRIGERATION.

United States Patent "ice 3,573,931

Patented Apr. 6, 1971 sults in the loss of volatiles which in turnresults in a loss 3,573,931 of the characteristic flavor and taste ofthe cheese product. PREPARING DRIED CHEESE Freeze drying of cheeseproduces a satisfactory product Robert Dale Brookfield asslgno toUmvel'sal but it is so expensive as to be prohibitive in commercialFoods Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis.

. practice.

N0 Drawing. F131. lllarlkgclg gbgm No. 711,517 5 SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION 99-115 Claims In one broad form the present invention is aprocess for preparing a dried cheese which has a low moisture contentand is stable in storage without deterioration at ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE 10 room temperatures for extended periods of time. The Aprocess for preparing dried cheese which comprises process involvesextruding the cheese with a ram type exextruding a high moisture contentcheese, with a ram type tuder into noodle form having a diameter of upto about extruder, into elongated noodle form having a diameter of inch,drying the noodle in a forced air oven at temup to m inch, drying theextruded noodle at elevated temperatures of up to about 115 F. to amoisture content peratures up to 115 F., preferably 'up to 110 F. to a.moisture content of up to about 17%.

up to about 17 Cheeses which contain up to about If desired the noodle,after drying, can be comminuted 53% fat are adapted for processing bythe method of this to a granular or powder form, which is suitable foruse invention to produce a storage stable product which does inautomatic dispensing machines. The dried cheese pronot requirerefrigeration. 20 duced by this process is stable in storage forextended periods at ordinary temperatures without refrigeration.

Moistureproof containers are ordinarily required to limit BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION moisture pick-up from the atmosphere. When placed incontact with water or liquids containing water at the time Field of theinventiOn of use, the dried cheese rehydrates and results in a fullflavor and aroma product. The process is especially adapted for use witha high fat cheese, such as blue (or blue vein) cheeses and mozzarella.The optimum moisture content of the final dried cheese varies somewhatdepending on the fat content of the cheese and the type. An excessivelydry cheese, i.e., below 3%, results in a product which is difiicult torehydrate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE =PREFERRED The invention relates to a process forpreparing dried cheese and especially dried cheeses of high fat content,which dried cheese can be stored without refrigeration and added tocommercial food products which are subsequently packaged, frozen or thelike. The product is free flowing when comminuted and is adapted for usein automatic dispensing equipment.

Description of the prior art BODIMENTS No successful process has beendeveloped in the prior The cheeses hi h may advantageously b e ed P p adrled cheese for commercfal home l by the methods of this inventioninclude blue or blue vein WhlCh 1s q Y Y ated by cookmg when cheeses,such as Gorgonzola or "Roquefort. These cheeses cofporated Into a molstfood Product ofdlnaflly Cheese are produced by innoculation of a cultureof the organism and products incorporating cheese require refrigerationto 40 p ll f i, o h cheeses of h lower f t p texture, flavor and odor,as W611 as to Prevent content varitics, which may be dried in accordancewith p When 611F656 is used in manufactufe 0f Q the present invention,include mozzarella, cottage cheese, {nefclal Products, a Cheese PR Sucha Pizza, creamed cottage cheeses and ricotta (a cottage cheese 1t doesnot lend itself readily to use in automatic dispensing type machines,Since the freshly grated Product tends to b10014 The Federal standardsof identity for these cheese prodin the hopper or agglomerate, hence,preventing easy, acucts are as follows:

Federal standards Maximum Minimum Minimum moisture, FD B aging percentpercent Blue cheese 60 days. 46 50 Gorgonzola 90 days- 42 50 Mozzarella,10w moistur N 0 45-52 45 standard Mozzarella, low moisture, part skim No45-52 30-4 standard. Ricotta 2 10-15 days..- 0-25 Cottage cheese N o 80No standard standard.- Cottage cheese, creamed No 80 4 standard.

1 FDB=fat, dry basis. 'lcflhege are no Federal standards. The standardsshown are customary manufacturing s an er s.

curate measurement of quantities to be applied to or mixed Of thegeneral types of cheeses noted above, the presinto the food productbeing manufactured. ent invention is preferably concerned with thosecheeses Some spray dried cheese products have been prepared whichcontain some fat-particularly those which contain by admixing cheesewith skim milk, phosphates and the from 48 to about 53% fat for bluecheeses and from like, followed by spray drying. This, while successful,is 30 to 42% for mozzarella. Fat content as the term is not a purecheese product. Furthermore, spray drying reused herein, refers to adetermination made by the Babcock Method. It has been found thatcontrolled conditions for drying are necessary to produce a product inwhich there is no separation of fat or surface exudation of fat on thecheese product being dried. Since this is a characteristic of high fatcheeses, the drying of such high fat cheeses is a preferred aspect ofthis invention.

The extrusion of the cheese into noodle form is accomplished by means ofconventional ram type extruders (i.e. utilizing a positive piston)equipped with an extruder plate having orifice diameters of up to aboutinch, preferably from to inch. The extrusion is preferably carried outat a temperature 'of from 40 to 72 F., since weeping (exudation of serumand/ or fat) is a characteristic of excessive extrusion temperatures.

The drying is carried out in a forced air drier in which the extrudednoodle is spread out in a porous bed on trays or endless wire mesh beltsand passed through the drier. The air flow should pass freely throughthe porous bed of noodles. In a preferred aspect the direction of thecurrent of forced air is reversed at intervals during the dryingprocess. The temperatures used are from 80 F. up to 115 F., preferablyup to 110 F. and most preferably from 95 to 110 F. The time will vary upto about 8 hours, preferably from 2 to 6 hours, and most preferably 2 /2to 3 /2 hours. The temperature, and time of drying depend somewhat onthe fat content and/ or texture of the cheese. The temperature and rateof drying must be such as to prevent fat exudation, browning oroverdrying of the product. Mozzarella cheese is preferably dried to amoisture content of from 3 to 17%, most preferably from 7 to 17%. In thecase of blue cheeses, cottage cheeses and ricotta, the cheese ispreferably dried to a moisture content of from 3 to 12%, most preferablyfrom 3 to 7.5%. The moisture contents are those values obtained by thetoluene distillation method.

The following specific examples will illustrate the process of thepresent invention.

EXAMPLE 1 A blue cheese having a fat content of 52% was broken up intochunks and fed into the hopper of a piston or ram type extruder (8inches in diameter) equipped with an orifice plate having inch orifices.The temperature of the cheese during the extrusion was 60 F. The noodleformed by the extruder was arranged into a bed about 1% inches deep, onthe perforated trays of a forced air drier, and dried at a temperatureof 110 F. for 3% hours. During drying the direction of air flow throughthe bed was recovered at forty minute intervals. The product had a finalmoisture content of 5.3%. The product was stored at room temperature (at70 F.) for six weeks in polyethylene lined cartons. At the end of thisstorage time the product showed no signs of appreciable deterioration.When the dried cheese was formulated into a salad dressing, it achievedfull flavor and texture.

EXAMPLE 2 A mozarella cheese having a fat content of 41% was extruded asin Example 1, and dried at 100 F. for 4% hours to a final moisturecontent of 12%. The dried cheese was stored in polyethylene linedcartons at room temperature (70 F.) for four weeks. No signs ofdeteriora tion were observed. When placed on a pizza that wassubsequently baked, the mozzarella cheese rehydrated well and had fullflavor and texture.

EXAMPLE 3 Bakers cottage cheese containing no fat, at a moisture contentof 75% was extruded as in Example 1, and dried 3 /2 hours at 110 F. to amoisture content of 8.6%. Air flow was reversed as in Example 1. Thedried product was ground to a fine powder and stored in a polyethylenelined carton at room temperature for three weeks. At the end of thistime rehydration of the dried product with warm water essentiallyrestored the original texture and taste.

While several particular embodiments of the invention have beenillustrated in the foregoing, it will be appreciated that otherembodiments may be provided which do not depart from the true spirit andscope of this invention and such embodiments are intended to be includedherein.

I claim:

1. A process for preparing a dried cheese that is storage stable withoutrefrigeration which comprises:

(a) extruding high moisture cheese selected from the group consisting ofblue cheeses, mozzarella and cottage cheeses, using a ram type extruder,into a thin noodle form having a diameter up to inch, and

(b) drying the noodle in a forced air dried at a temperature of up to115 F. to a moisture content of up to 17% over a period of up to 8hours.

2. A process for preparing a dried cheese product that is storage stablewithout refrigeration which comprises: (a) extruding a high moisturecheese selected from the group consisting of blue cheeses, mozzarellaand cottage cheeses, using a ram type extruder, in noodle form, having adiameter of up to about inch, and (b) drying the noodle in a porous bedin a forced air drier to permit free circulation of air around andthrough the noodles at a temperature of up to 115 F. for a period of upto 8 hours, to a final moisture content of up to about 17% but not lessthan about 6%. 2. A process according to claim 2 wherein the noodlediameter is from to 7 inch.

4. A process according to claim 2 wherein the temperature of drying isfrom to F.

5. A process according to claim 2 wherein the initial fat content of thecheese is up to about 53%.

6. A process according to claim 2 wherein the fat content of the cheeseis from 30 to 53%.

7. A process according to claim 2 wherein the cheese is dried to a finalmoisture content of from 3 to 12%.

8. A process according to claim 2 wherein the cheese is dried to a finalmoisture content of from 3 to 7.5

9. A process according to claim 2 wherein the cheese is dried for aperiod of from 2 to 6 hours.-

10. A process for preparing a dried cheese which is storage stablewithout refrigeration which comprises:

(a) extruding a cheese selected from the group consisting of blue cheesehaving a fat content of from 48 to 53%, and mozzarella having a fatcontent of 30 to 42%, using a ram type extruder, in noodle form, havingdiameters of from to inch,

(b) forming the extruded noodle into a porous bed and drying the noodlein a forced air environment at a temperature of from 95 to 110 F. for aperiod of from 2 to 6 hours to a final moisture content of up to 17%.

11. A process according to claim 10 wherein the extrusion is carried outat temperatures of from about 40 to 72 F.

12. A process according to claim 10 wherein the cheese is mozzarella andthe final moisture content is from 7 to 17%.

13. A process according to claim 10 wherein the cheese is selected fromthe group consisting of blue cheese, cottage, and ricotta, and the finalmoisture content is from 3 to 12% 14. A process according to claim 13where the final moisture content is from 3 to 7.5%.

15. A process according to claim 10 wherein the direction of the forcedair flow through the porous bed is reversed at intervals during thedrying process.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 OTHER REFERENCES Kosikowski,K.: Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods, Edward Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor,Mich., 1966 (p. 5).

LIONEL M. SHAPIRO, Primary Examiner D. M. NAFF, Assistant ExaminerUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 DatedAPRIL 6, 197].

Inventor-(s) ROBERT F DALE It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Col. 2, l. 41, "varities" should be --varieties- Col. 3, l. 51,"recovered" should be --reversed-- Col. 3, l. 61, "mozarella" should be--mozzerella-- Col. 4, l. 20, (Claim 1) "dried" should be --drier-- Col.36, The second "Claim 2" should be numbered --Claim 3-- Col. 4, l. 71,(Claim 13) "cheese" should be --cheeses-- In the References Col. 5, l. 5"Poppet" should be --Popper-- Col. 6, l. 3, "Edward" should be"Edwards-- Signed and sealed this 19th day of October 1971 (SEAL)Attest:

Attesting Officer Acting Commissioner of Paton

